“How does it… do that?”
I shrugged. “No idea. Well. Some idea. I’m actually thinking of using it with liquid nitrogen.”
“That sounds dangerous,” Wes said.
“It’s… I won’t pretend there’s no risk, but with safety goggles and comically huge gloves and an apron, it’s safe enough. The instant ice cream is totally worth the risk.”
Both my dad and Wes looked at me like they weren’t convinced.
“I don’t have any right now, anyway,” I said. “So you’ll both have to make do with whatever I can get Mom’s old bench top ice cream machine to do.”
“You’re making ice cream?” Wes asked, hopeful.
I shrugged. “It’s what I do.”
I hadn’t felt like it in a long time, but today I wanted to. All the creative energy I’d been worried was lost had surged back at full force, and I was brimming with ideas. I had a pot of the rose jam that’d been in the croissant Wes insisted I’d like, and a dozen other things I’d picked up while we’d been in town, and I was ready to experiment.
“I’m not gonna say no,” Dad said.
“Me neither.” Wes grinned at me. “Let’s get this inside.”
17
Wes
I couldn’t getover how soft Hayden looked in the mornings. Hair ruffled, eyelids heavy, smile warm and shy and easy as he blinked awake, looking at me like he could barely believe I was there.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been. The ladder was still leaning against the side of the house, waiting for me to make a discreet exit before we got caught, but I didn’t care.
This was actually kind of exciting.
“Morning,” I said as Hayden yawned, shifting under the light blanket he’d thrown over both of us last night.
I hadn’t meant to stay until the morning, but once we’d both cleaned up and settled down together, I hadn’t wanted to move.
Besides, staying had its benefits. Like being woken up by Hayden’s cock poking me in the night and sleepily fumbling our way to good mutual orgasms before passing out again, snuggled up together.
This whole having sex with the same person on multiple days thing wasnice. I could’ve gotten used to it.
“Morning,” he murmured, eyes still heavy. The dark circles were gone, though. I was proud of that, even if it wasn’t entirely my doing.
“Still haven’t bitten my head off,” I teased.
“I looked it up,” Hayden said. “It’s definitely only the girl praying mantises who do that. I’m a boy praying mantis.”
“Yeah?” I asked, smiling hopelessly.
He was fucking adorable. I doubted many people got to see that, and I was honored to have the chance.
“Mmhmm,” Hayden said. “You can tell by the number of abdominal segments I have.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“It’s true!” Hayden insisted. “Girl praying mantises have six, boys have eight.”
“Are you trying to tell me you have… eight abs?” I asked. “Because don’t get me wrong, you’re incredibly sexy, but I don’t think that’s how abdominal muscles work.”
“You can look if you don’t believe me,” Hayden said, stretching out onto his back.
